Contra Proferentem

Translated, this means against the one bringing forth. This term is used in “contract law to stipulate that an ambiguous term in a contract shall be interpreted against the interests of the party that insisted upon the term’s inclusion. Prevents the intentional additions of ambiguous terminology from being exploited by the party who insisted on its inclusion.”

For example, there was a contract that became a point of contention and the contract was specific to a certain geographical area. Within the contract it stated something similar to, “Durham Region Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa”. The Judge interpreted this in favor of the Defendant. Although it could have been interpreted that the contract was to cover all of Durham Region and Ajax and Whitby and Oshawa, the comma was missing from the text so it was interpreted as Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa which are located in Durham Region.